Redistricting: Messy, Political and Partisan-But Nonetheless Important

In almost every state capital across the United States, a process is unfolding
that will help determine the composition of the next Congress as well as your
state legislature and, in many cases, your school board and city council.

The process is secretive and, some would argue, arcane. Nonetheless, it will
influence the amount of progress we in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
(GLBT) community are able to achieve in the coming decade.

We're talking about redistricting-the messy, political and often partisan art
of drawing new political boundaries to reflect population shifts. Redistricting
takes place every 10 years, after the U.S. Census reports new population numbers
to the states.

Historically, people shut out of power-people of color, language minorities,
recent immigrants-have been discriminated against in the redistricting process.
Either "packed" into a single voting district or split into a number
of districts, the result is an inability to gain effective political representation.

Political parties and incumbent politicians again this year will try to use
the redistricting process to their advantage-and there is no reason why GLBT
people and progressives of all stripes cannot do likewise.

But first, we must insert ourselves as a community into a process that was never
intended to be open to us or easy to understand. Only when we participate fully
in the political process can we expect to achieve the political power that is
rightfully ours.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has issued a report entitled "Redistricting
and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community: A Strategy Memo."
This is meant to help local GLBT activists and our allies influence the redistricting
process.

You probably know the principle behind redistricting-one person, one vote. But
you may wonder, what does this have to do with you? Consider one statistic:
Because of the number of revised Congressional districts that will be drawn
this year as well as the number of retirements that will follow the redistricting
process, between 80 and 100 House seats are expected to be competitive in the
year 2002 Congressional elections.

Add to that the fact that the political party out of power picks up an average
of several dozen seats during the first election following a change in political
control of the White House, and you can see that the very real potential exists
for a sea change in political control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The new political lines that will be drawn are of paramount importance to the
GLBT community as well as to people of color, recent immigrants to the U.S.
and women. Will your new state and local districts be most likely to elect a
conservative, a liberal or a moderate? Will this elected official be someone
who is friendly to progressive communities or hostile? Will the newly elected
gay man or lesbian from your district find their incumbency threatened or will
they find it easier to win re-election in their new district?

NGLTF encourages GLBT activists to help create and maintain districts that will
make city councils and school boards, state legislatures and the U.S. House
of Representatives more representative of the racial, cultural and gender diversity
of the U.S. population. This is not only an ethical imperative; it is in our
self-interest. The fact is that elected officials who are women, people of color
and members of other underrepresented populations traditionally have been among
the GLBT community's staunchest allies. Although there are exceptions to this
rule, consider this statistic: of the 59 Democratic members of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, fully one half are black or Latino.

So what can you do? The first step is to visit our web site and download for
free NGLTF's redistricting memo. The URL is www.ngltf.org/downloads/redistrict.pdf

The next step is, get involved. Hook up with other activists in your community
and find out what is happening to ensure a fair and open redistricting process.
Work with allies wherever you can find them- and if you cant find them,
create your own.

Right now, in state capital after state capital, the process has begun. Too
often we're expected to color inside the lines. This time, lets redraw
them.